At the same time, taxpayers get shafted because state budget is $20B in the hole. Disgusting. And they wonder why the tea party is so popular.
bump
And some think these people actually became billionaires the honest way.
Of course, Arnold would tell us that these are not “special interests.”
I don't remember the particulars on this but my foggy recollections tell me that there may be a good reason for this deal. If it is who I think it is, then as I recall, bogus ESA listings and TMDL regulations have made this man's property virtually valueless. He did everything right. He got certified. He hired the best forester available (Mike Janai). He tried to cooperate, but the State and the greenies have basically cut him off at the kneecaps (much to the preference of Red Emerson and the Simpsons, who have been using regulations to slowly corner the redwood market in this state for fifty years). He's probably up to sue, has the resources, and now, with that case in Humboldt Bay, the precedents to stick them for a huge chunk of change plus punitive damages. The problem for him is that he probably wants to see the results in his lifetime.
Hence the State doesn't want him to sue and is quietly buying him off. The LAT greenie real estate thugs (the Chandler family) don't want this new money newbie keeping his land or getting anything in compensation; it makes a bad precedent as far as screwing property owners is concerned. Hence this underhanded deal.
Just a guess, but my dim recall of this is ringing in my ears.